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Tetris: The Anti-Nightmare Fuel
Playing Tetris shortly after traumatic experiences helps accident victims and war casualties ward off traumatic flashbacks, British researchers have found. Sounds silly, but given how much of your brain Tetris can end up controlling – to the point of seeing it when you close your eyes – it’s not that farfetched to me. A team…
By Owen Good Published March 28, 2010 - Uncategorized
Let’s Shank Again, Like I Did Last Summer
When last I left Shank, it was PAX West 2009. Six months later I got my hands on a whole new, platform-heavy level and word from Klei Entertainment’s Jamie Cheng on quality versus quantity. If you read my Shank preview from PAX 2009, you’ll know that I was incredibly impressed by Klei’s Spaghetti Western take…
By Mike Fahey Published March 28, 2010 - Uncategorized
Can Video Games Be Campy?
In a culture so infused with irony, the appreciation of campy works – outrageous movies, terrible art, worse music – is absolutely mainstream. Does it apply to games? Can games strive to be campy? Or are they already so? Michael Clarkson, writing on his blog Discount Thoughts, considers games like House of the Dead: Overkill,…
By Owen Good Published March 28, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: X-Ray Edition
Our week began with a nightmarish image, even in x-ray – a giant butcher knife plunged through some unlucky wallhacker’s cranium. Sensitive bastards people that we are, this is great fodder for the latest Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. Don’t worry, we’re not going to show you the super-gruesome real life image. But as we have dozens…
By Owen Good Published March 28, 2010 - Culture
Sunday Comics
Penny Arcade published March 24 PvPonline published March 22 ActionTrip published March 22 Digital Unrest published March 22 EXTRALIFE published March 23 GU Comics published March 24 Dotgif published March 22 Ctrl+Alt+Del published March 22 Dueling Analogs published March 22 Nerf NOW published March 23 Rooster Teeth published March 23 Monday Night Crew published March…
By Owen Good Published March 28, 2010 - Uncategorized
Hydrophobia In Action, A Contender For Video Game’s Best Water Yet
Kotaku previewed new Xbox Live Arcade exclusive Hydrophobia this weekend. The game has some rough spots, but to help you understand this game’s potential check out its water effects in this official trailer. In the final minute of the trailer, note the exploding barrels trick, the underwater combat and the heroine’s water-controlling power.
By Stephen Totilo Published March 28, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Off-Topic: Yeah, I Dig ‘Em
A few months back I left my car in neutral and it rolled out of the garage, down the hill and destroyed a bush. I worried that the landlady would notice the missing shrubbery. Then the plumbers showed up yesterday. They’re replacing some damaged sewer pipe, which requires them to excavate all the way down…
By Owen Good Published March 28, 2010 - Uncategorized
PAX East Cosplay Gallery: Day Two
We promised you more cosplay for the second day of PAX East, and we have delivered! Check out today’s gallery for more Pokémon, Mario, Final Fantasy XIII, Fallout, The World Ends With You, and this uncanny Jerry Holkins cosplay. Today’s cosplay gallery spits on yesterday’s cosplay gallery, trampling it into the ground like a baby…
By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Dead Space 2: More Fun With Severed Limbs
Dead Space’s strategic dismemberment system was a lot of fun, but ultimately a waste of perfectly good limbs. Executive producer Steve Papoutsis tells Kotaku one way the sequel will keep the fun going even after someone loses an arm. I caught up with Mr. Papoutsis in the lobby of the Sheraton, which connects to the…
By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kane & Lynch Finally Makes Jeff Gerstmann Smile
Giant Bomb’s Jeff Gertsmann, long-time reviewer of games, has a less than cheerful history with the first Kane & Lynch game. But at PAX East, all is well with Jeff, Kane and Lynch. (The fans here made him do it!)
By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2010 -
UncategorizedNetflix Disc Comparison Says PS3 is Slower than the Wii
So maybe I was a little hard on the loading times for streaming Netflix movies on the Wii yesterday. It could be worse; it could be the same service on a PS3. Not only did this comparison show the PS3 taking 2:53, start to finish, to load up a preview clip (compared with the Wii’s…
By Owen Good Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Snubbed Cover Candidate Says “No One Else” Deserves Madden Box But Him
Madden NFL 11 has put its cover athlete up for a vote. The Tennessee Titans’ Chris Johnson, who is not a candidate, says there shouldn’t even be a vote. “No one else deserve to be there but me,” he said. Now, that’s the kind of product spokesman I’d want! Gee, wonder why EA Sports didn’t…
By Owen Good Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Left 4 Dead 2 DLC Won’t Release This Month, Will Cost 560 MS Points
A video broadcast to U.K. Xbox Live subscribers confirms suspicions that Left 4 Dead 2’s “The Passing” DLC won’t be available by March 31, with the date moved to a more vague “Spring.” But it will cost 560 Microsoft points. The U.K.’s Xbox Live team says Valve officially confirmed the pushback and the price to…
By Owen Good Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Puzzle Quest 2 Preview: The Same, Only Different
I got to spend a half hour this morning with Puzzle Quest 2, the sequel to a game I found so addicting that I’d rather play it than write up this preview. Is my life over come late spring? In short, yes. While dramatic changes have been made to the navigation system, experience points, money,…
By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Dead Space 2 First Look: Isaac on a Train
About 30 seconds of gameplay from the upcoming Dead Space 2 was just shown at PAX East during a panel discussion of the game. In it, Isaac flies through a few runaway train cars and zaps a necromorph. If you want to see it, skip ahead to 23:50 of the video below. It’s a somewhat…
By Owen Good Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Hydrophobia Impressions: Mix Water With Exploding Barrels, Please
The best parts of Hydrophobia are, not surprisingly, wet. Today in Boston at PAX East I got a chance to try a demo of Hydrophopbia, a game several years in development by studio Dark Energy Digital that has been announced at this show as an exclusive Xbox Live Arcade game. At first glance it is…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Vegas Kicked My Ass, but I Returned the Favor — With a Video Game
Two weeks ago I simulated the NCAA Tournament on my Xbox 360 and vowed to bet its first round predictions “like a message from the future.” My friends called that the stupidest thing they’d ever heard. They were right. But I did it anyway, hitting Las Vegas for a bachelor party with a sheaf of…
By Owen Good Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Battle Block Theater Preview: Older-School
The creators of Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers have finally named their new game and let us play it again. Here at PAX East I have played Battle Block Theater. We last played the game in the summer at the San Diego Comic-Con in July. What was then called Game 3 has not just a…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2010 - Uncategorized
Just Cause 2 Won’t Have Multiplayer, Just ‘Cause
The director of Just Cause 2 is loud and proud about the fact they built a single-player game, and shut down thoughts that they could be cooking up multiplayer downloadable content for this game. Still, Magnus Nedfors told Eurogamer that his studio, Avalanche, has had “lots of good ideas” for a multiplayer Just Cause, but…
By Owen Good Published March 27, 2010